Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> sindi keesan wrote:
> > startxt gave me Xvesa with no window manager or rxvt.
>
> That's right.  It's waiting for a window manager, etc.
> to be sent from the other system.

This time I did startxt on client (got X on grey pattern),
then I typed
rxvt - I got one of those on the client screen
icewm - I got that too, in addition to the rxvt
opera - I got opera (no remote connection - not dialled in)

This is much simpler than the rxvt& rxvt -e icewm which I have been using 
to get into Xvesa with minimal icewm (no menu, no apps).

I wonder if I could just do Xvesa on one terminal of a non-connected 
computer and then switch terminals and type icewm and then opera.
Yes, I can type Xvesa, then switch to vt2 and type rxvt& and switch back 
to X and see rxvt.  From vt2 I can type exec icewm& (I still have not 
figured out quite what & does - I cannot manage to get rxvt and icewm and 
opera to the point where exiting opera leaves me a usable rxvt).  If I had 
done this having typed startxt instead of Xvesa I could then type opera 
and use it from the server.

> > What is it about startxt script that lets you run
> > programs from the other computer in X on this computer?
>
> Have a look (both the startx and startxt scripts are
> quite short).  You will see the -ac parameter in startxt.
> It opens Xvesa to remote traffic.
>
> > What does export DISPLAY do?
>
> It sends X output to the Xserver at the specified address
> (and gets input from that Xserver).
>
> > Where does the remote connection come from?
>
> > From the system where you type "export DISPLAY=etc"
>
> > Do I also need to run some demon?
>
> Nope.  Just an Xserver on one end and some X executables
> on the other.
>
> > 1.  Set up ethernet (insmod rtl8139,
> > ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.1 or 1.2 on both computers).
>
> ping to confirm your connection.

I did that - cables needed to be pushed harder into the connector that we 
cross-wired to accept two non-twisted ones which we have lots of.

> > 2.  On server export DEVICE=192.168.1.7:0
export DISPLAY=192.168.1.2:0
(not DEVICE) - why did someone give '7' as a sample address?

> You've got no 192.168.1.7.  You did ifconfigs for
> 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2
Do I even need the ifconfig for server - 1.1?

> > (What does this all mean?)
>
> The output from X executables run on that system will
> be send to 192.168.1.7

> > 3.  On client  startxt    - I get grey pattern with X.
>
> What's the address of that client?
> Unless it's 192.168.1.7 it will receive nothing.
>
> > I tried variations (startxt on server, export on client).
>
> Don't get confused with clients and servers.
> (1) configure your network
> (2) startxt on one system
> (3) on the other system do:
> '   export DISPLAY=address_of_system_running_startxt:0
> (4) on the same system as (3) execute:  icewm

Since I set up icewm without a menu (minimalist) rxvt (enter) icewm 
(enter).

> > If I got this working would it be possible to run X at
> > the same time on both computers?
>
> You can if you want, but it is not necessary.  You don't
> need X running on the system that executes icewm.  It
> seems kinda strange running icewm on a system without X,
> but it works.

This way two people could run Opera over the same dialin connection at the 
same time.

Can you telnet from one terminal and run X from another, in both cases 
accessing the programs and/or modem connection on the server?

My partner wants to telnet in to our bbs on both terminals at once, with 
no need to Alt-F1/Alt-F2 to switch, and do a 'talk' with each other.  I 
already have a two-monitor setup on one computer but only one keyboard.
We could do this with two laptop computers and one modem.

Or with the dumb terminal method (serial cable) I could use as client a 
386 laptop computer with 1MB RAM, and DOS and kermit on a boot disk and no 
hard drive.  Or use an actual dumb terminal - we have a portable one (plus 
two dead ones made a long time ago in our city - Ann Arbor Ambassador). 
Of course no X this way, just CLI.  Fine for reading email, links, 
practicing shell scripts while someone else uses the computer for other 
things.

Fun. I have to try httpd some time soon.  Any other features of BL3 you 
suggest learning on?

> Cheers,
> Steven